Sunday, June 27, 2010

I'll get around to doing a proper travel update soon but for now I'll just say that Kogi BBQ was completely worth the trek (and the wait)!I don't recall how I found out about these guys but they were on my LA list from that moment, I only had a few must see things around there and this was one.After plotting a course to sample their spicy pork burrito and short rib taco, I highly recommend tracking them down!In-N-Out was pretty decent too, but not too earth shattering to any corner deli burger from home.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

"The story goes like this:I got in to Melbourne on Thursday morning and went to see a mate at her bike shop [Pony Bikes]. At some point it is mentioned that there is a DC/PK Ripper bike launch party happening that night. I headed off to see some other friends before going back across town to drop in on the party. It was bike porn central! So many niiiice bikes [a few riders took my eye too], and after we tired of the black glasses and tight jeans crowd we retired to a nearby pub for pizza and beers.The time came to head off, as I had an early flight, so we headed back to the bike shop to pick up my gear, this is the point where it went wrong. Instead of following my instinct and heading straight to the bus station to go to the airport, I took up the offer of a couch for a couple of hours of much needed sleep. I set my alarm with plenty of contingency time, placed the phone right next to my pillow and closed my eyes.I woke to the concerned face of Sasha leaning over me, telling me I'd missed my flight. That's a sinking feeling of such depth I doubt I'll forget it any time soon.A tense 2 hours passed between talking to the after-hours desk and waiting for the airline/travel agent to open to find out exactly how far up the creek I was. After a series of calls, emails and more hours with nothing but waiting to do, I now have it under control again and I will be on the same Friday morning flight next week.My wallet is about $500 lighter and I'm a week down in my time in the US, but life goes on and there are even a couple of bonus points to come out of it [repack slightly, bike modification opportunities, see people I missed before departure MKI, tie up loose ends etc].Lessons learnt from this:Trust my instinct: I am always paranoid about making the trip to a flight with plenty of time and back up plans, i was thinking this but took up the couch.The body needs sleep: After 3 nights of sleep totalling 6 hours, sleep will eventually win.See you sooner or later.Dan"

That was essentially the email I sent to people I needed to tell I would be a little late arriving. Since then I've been back in Adelaide tying up some loose ends and whatnot, all very anticlimactic and really looking forward to getting under-way again.

If you're in Melbourne and need a trim, go see Bert on Little Collins st. It was the first time I can recall enjoying the experience of getting a hair cut.

Here and now is not the time to get into a discussion about the abuse of the word 'actually'. I'll leave it for now but just putting it out there.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

As I have mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I'm currently planning a trip across the USA. This is my most recent reason for lack of posts on here: I've been scalp deep in working toward leaving, I still have a LOT to do but departure is looming fast, in fact it's about 54hours from now!

This is roughly where I'm planning on heading, but I'd love to here any suggestions of destinations along the way, and of course friendly couches are always welcome!

The US stint is just the start of a more broad adventure: after I make it over to NYC I'll be flying straight to Berlin to play in the Polo worlds with my team: ACME [Adelaide City Mallet Exchange] and I just got my hands on a German work visa so I'll be looking for work there.

Friday, June 4, 2010

I've been trawling ebay and Craigslist looking at cars to drive across America in, I'm looking for something cheap, reliable and practical.But, I'm getting so distracted, there are just so many cool, cheap cars in the states. For example there was an airport limo like the one above for ~$1500. Here's just a selection of the ones I've come across while looking at vans and wagons, [not sure how the caddy popped up].